Harmony Archtone H1213

LEFT: In 1963, the Harmony Archtone H1213 sold for under $40.
RIGHT: Made of solid wood, as opposed to laminates, the Archtone sports a birch body.

Hey Zach,
I have a Harmony archtop acoustic with the following numbers
inside: F-63-HB and 3714H1213. I know Harmony
guitars aren’t worth much, but this guitar plays quite well.
Can you identify it for me and tell me how much it’s worth?
Thanks!
—Chad in St. Paul, MN

Hey Chad,
Cool guitar! And you’re right—
most Harmony guitars aren’t
worth much, or in other words,
they aren’t very collectible.
That said, I wonder how many
guitarists reading this column
started out learning to play on
a Harmony. There are hundreds
of thousands of Harmony guitars
out there, and though these
are mostly entry-level instruments,
they’re very much a part
of guitar history.

Harmony was the largest US
guitar manufacturer between the
1930s and late 1960s. At the
height of the guitar boom in the
mid-1960s, Harmony was building
more than 1000 instruments
per day. Not only were they
producing Harmony-branded
guitars, there was a time when
the Chicago-based factory was
making guitars for 57 different
brand names and trademarks. At
one point, Harmony was selling
40 percent of their guitars
through Sears & Roebuck under
the Silvertone brand.

Your guitar is a model
H1213 Archtone made in 1963.
Harmony did a great job of
stamping model numbers and
dates of manufacture on their
guitars, but they often require
some decoding. The F-63-HB
is the date code and the two
numbers, not surprisingly, indicate
1963. The “F” preceding
the year was often thought to
be a fall production indicator
while the other letter stamp they
would use was an “S,” which
researchers thought stood for a
spring production instrument.
However, a former Harmony
employee notified a Harmony
database website that it is more
likely an “F” stands for “first”
and “S” stands for “second.”
He explained that Harmony
would shut the factory down
for two weeks in July and that
guitars produced before this
break were stamped “F,” while
guitars produced after were
stamped “S.” The H1213 is
the model number as indicated
in Harmony’s catalogs and literature.
The “3714” is the serial
number of your guitar, but little
information has been uncovered
as to what this series of numbers
represents. More than likely, it
was a consecutive production
number of that particular model
for either the first or second half
of the year.

The Archtone acoustics were
some of the most popular guitars
ever produced by Harmony.
While production totals are
unavailable, we can safely say
that tens of thousands of these
instruments were manufactured.
The Archtone had a non-cutaway
body and was advertised
as being constructed from
hardwoods. These “hardwoods”
were actually birch (grained to
resemble mahogany and spruce)
and maple (grained to look like
rosewood) for the fretboard. The
binding was actually painted on!

Other Archtone owners may
notice a slightly different model
number, but with the exception
of a tenor version, the only difference
is the finish. The H1213
(your model) was finished with
a shaded-brown sunburst, the
H1214 was ivory-colored with
a flame effect, and the H1215
was a sunburst with a grained
effect. In excellent condition,
this model is worth between
$200 and $250 today. But in the
average condition yours appears
to be, it’s worth between $100
and $150.

According to Harmony’s 1963
price list, the H1213 Archtone
sold for $37.75. If we take inflation
into account, this same guitar
would actually sell for around
$270 today. This is roughly the
same price for most entry-level
acoustic guitars these days, but
the two main differences are that
the H1213 is an archtop and
it was made in the US (most
modern entry-level acoustics are
flattops produced in Asia).

While most collectors aren’t
necessarily going to boast that
they own a number of Harmony
guitars, we shouldn’t forget
the important “first axe” role
Harmony played for many guitarists.
This company took mass
production of guitars to the next
level. And though you may have
to sort through a few to find
one that is completely intact
and doesn’t allow a car to drive
under the strings, they were
quality-made instruments for
the most part. For those of you
who first learned on a Harmony
Archtone, this is certainly a
childhood treasure!

Zachary R. Fjestad
is author of Blue Book of
Acoustic Guitars, Blue Book
of Electric Guitars, and Blue
Book of Guitar Amplifiers.
For more information, visit
bluebookinc.com or email
Zach at guitars@bluebookinc.com.

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